Post navigation

Recovering from Decades of Nonsense

I find that as I have gotten a little… ahem… older, I am beginning to think that it is the best to maintain integrity and simplicity in styling. Not all of us can pull off a Vivian Westwood strut or Betsey Johnson cartwheel. Both in their 70s, these ladies are something special. I don’t know if it’s fame or money but something in our minds allows acceptance of the wildness. These ladies style themselves as they see fit and we accept it as avant-garde rather than considering them as we would if we met them on the street as “that crazy lady who is likely housing a large number of cats”.

I consider myself fairly artsy. I have, from time to time, worn items that others dare not. My blouses have been a bit loud, my sleeves a little too 70s, my shoes tend to mimic 17th century booties and my pendant necklaces sometimes holler, “I dare you not to look at me”.

Having said this, I now find myself attracted to solids with styled details, embroidery or cutout sections and one-tone dressing embellished by a knockout scarf or stellar jewellery piece.

Basic black crepe with eye-catching accessories

Within in the confines of this measured style of dressing I have surprisingly found a great deal of freedom. Freedom to harbor as many accessories as I please (yay me!). Freedom to wear them on a whim. Freedom to pick and choose the look I’m in the mood for. To mix and match, at my digression, without the guilt of buying something like shoes or a purse, that I just don’t have the clothes to wear it with.

Classic brights with a navy pop

My natural instinct is to go for clothes that are classic with styling and colours.

Great cut-out details on both the blouse and the handbag

Choosing items that sport one styling detail.

Details close up

Going for a great back or a keyhole cutout. Utilizing neutrals and colour tone families and pepper these outfits with bold accessory choices.

Make one item the focus

Will I still pull out that Rolling Stones T-shirt and ply it with gobs of chains and shiny stones, topped off with a “worn in” plaid shirt? I absolutely will!! I would be crazy not to. It makes for an excellent rockin’ outfit and allows me to tap into my internal rock chick goddess, which sits dormant for the majority of the year (teased hair not included)!

All of us who have hit a certain age (the “f” decades), have gone through the whimsy and earthy tones of the seventies, the punk and brights of the eighties, the grunge and then minimalism of the nineties and now as we find ourselves in the middle of the second decade of the 2000s and where are we? I find myself in stores slogging through styles that were hideous when we wore them the first time around. Short, shapeless, floral print, rayon dress disasters, bad knit crop sweaters and overalls (what?). Didn’t we learn the first time that these did nothing for us!

Somewhere in those decades there was a happy medium and our struggle now is to find it. I believe it starts when we find comfort in own skin.